On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: > Frank, just what is Simcoe Day? > > Simcoe is a name in our local history in New Jersey. In 1779, > British Lt. Colonel John Simcoe led a raiding party of "...eighty Tory > raiders from Staten Island, crossing to Perth Amboy, seeking to > capture Governor Livingston and to scuttle the flat-boats of the > American army." On October 27th, Simcoe reached the Somerset Court > House and burned it. As a result, the court house was moved further > inland, to where it is now located, a block from my office.
Well, first of all, I don't think Simcoe Day is an official holiday yet. It's just a "Bank Holiday", an excuse to have an extra long weekend in August. There's been a movement afoot for several years now to give the weekend a bit of pizzazz, and naming it after John Graves Simcoe is gaining popularity it seems. Some calendars even call it Simcoe Day, even though it's not yet official. And, yes, it's the same Simcoe you talk of. From a military family, his father fought at the Plains of Abraham (when Britain took over New France) and for that service his family was granted land in what's now Ontario. He followed in his dad's footsteps and became a career soldier, fighting in the US War of Succession (or as you call it, the American Revolution). When the colony of Canada was split into Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) he became U.C.'s first Lieutenant-Governor, the Crown's representative in the colony. Reformed the courts, introduced English Common Law, trial by jury, introduced freehold land tenure, abolished slavery. Apparently did a great job. So now (or at least hopefully soon) we have a holiday in our province named after him. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
